Pictures and pain; Alexander Rodchenko. From: The Economist (US) | Date: February 9, 2008 | COPYRIGHT 2008 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Taking it on the chin

How an avant-garde Russian master influenced generations of photographers

ALEXANDER RODCHENKO was a well-known Moscow painter when, at the age of 33 in 1924, he took up photography. Within a year his dramatic manipulations of perspective were attracting international notice. By 1928 Alfred H. Barr, soon to become director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was paying him a visit.

Rodchenko's techniques were so strikingly...